


Ace of Cakes

by captainflintsjacket



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Suburban AU, baking war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 22:43:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20443775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainflintsjacket/pseuds/captainflintsjacket
Summary: You've always been the best baker in your neighborhood. At least, you were until Jim Kirk moved in.





	Ace of Cakes

The sun was shining and birds chirped from their perches in the trees by your house. Your neighbor was mowing his lawn and waved as you left your house. You waved back with a mile wide grin, enjoying your little slice of the perfect apple pie life. You meant that literally, of course, as you were known for your fair-winning apple pie through the whole neighborhood. Apple pie wasn’t your only skill, though. Today, you’d made your best cake ever in honor of Ruth Appleby’s 80th birthday. It was a beautiful piece, covered in modeling chocolate dyed lavender with little chocolate butterflies placed across the icing. The cake itself was a family recipe - dark chocolate and raspberry, two of Ruth’s favorite flavors. You were sure it would be the talk of the party. Still, your confidence didn’t stop you from eavesdropping as you mingled among the party goers.

You’d walked around for almost half an hour and still hadn’t heard anyone talk about your cake. Instead, everyone was buzzing about a plate of brownies stacked unceremoniously at the end of the buffet line. You glared at them from a distance as two more of your neighbors passed over your cake and went straight for the brownies. With a huff, you stomped over to the table and picked a brownie up, still glaring at it as if your poison stare alone would be able to make it taste bad. You moaned when you took a bite of it. It was perfect in every way: moist in the middle with little chunks of chocolate that melted in the mouth. You could taste just a hint of cinnamon which gave the brownies the extra depth they needed. It was heaven in your mouth. It was horrible.

“Do you need a moment alone with those,” a man at your side asked.

You swallowed the rest of the brownie quickly, covering your mouth. “No, it’s fine they’re not that good. You should try some of the cake instead.”

The man laughed. “You sure? Those sounds you were making tell a different story.” You swallowed again, throat suddenly dry despite the moistness of the brownies. “It’s an award-winning recipe, but I’m sure the cake’s good too.”

“The cake’s phenomenal. I know. I made it.”

The man’s eyes lit up. “So you’re the Y/N that always makes the best dessert at neighborhood parties. Well…Until today.” Thankfully, Ruth herself saved you from having to make a snappy comeback by calling Jim over, asking for more brownies. Traitor, you thought glumly.

Lucky for you, Ben and Hikaru were celebrating their daughter’s birthday in a few days and had asked you to make the cake. You pulled out an old recipe for molten devil’s food cake that you were sure would be a hit with the kids. Once it was frosted and decorated, you headed to the Sulu house gifts in tow, only to find the kids buried face deep in Jim’s lemon cupcakes. He smirked at you before biting into one of his own.

You slammed the cake pan onto the counter and glared at Jim. “This means war.”

Pretty soon, all of your neighbors heard about your and Jim’s feud and were tripping over themselves to have the two of you cater their parties. You and Jim pulled out all the stops each time, drawing from old family recipes and internet fan favorites to create showstopping desserts. Somehow, Jim’s recipes were always more popular. After two weeks of nonstop baking, you finally had enough.

You walked up to him at Scotty’s pool party and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. When he turned around, Jim had that stupid smirk on his face. It made your blood boil. “You ready to admit defeat,” Jim asked.

Tears pricked your eyes and before your brain caught up with your body, you reached your arms out and shoved Jim backward. The look on his face was priceless as he stumbled over his feet. His arms flailed as he tried to regain his balance, but he toppled straight back and landed with a loud clap against the pool water. A laugh roared through the crowd, but you didn’t stick around for the rest of the festivities. You picked your platter of cookies up from the table and walked them home, shoving them straight into the garbage can when you got back to your house. 

There was a knocking on your door a few minutes later, and you wiped the back of your hand across your face, trying to hide the fact that you’d been crying. You straightened the front of your shirt and stood tall, forcing your trademark Suburban Smile on your face before opening the door. All your energy left you when you saw it was Jim. “What do you want,” you asked softly, not willing to look him in the eyes. He was still dripping wet and you felt more than a little embarrassed that you pushed him into Scotty’s pool.

“Can I come in?”

“You’ll ruin the hardwood,” you mumbled. It was a flimsy excuse and you knew it, but right now you just wanted Jim to leave.

“Please, Y/N,” he said, still taking a step closer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this far.” His apology caught your attention. He sighed and ran a hand back through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. “I wanted to get to know you, and everyone said the best way to do that was through baking, but then you got all competitive and Lord knows I’ve got a competitive streak the size of Texas and I just….I just wanted to get to know you.”

You let your eyes wander over Jim’s figure as he stood dripping on your doorstep. His t-shirt clung to his body in all the right places, defining the ridges of his abdomen. You couldn’t deny that you wanted to run your hands over it, or at least through his hair. “How about we start with you teaching me that brownie recipe of yours?”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr @trade-baby-blues


End file.
